Parreira: WC will hold no fears for Bafana

Parreira believes his team has improved dramatically and they will have no fear when the competition kicks off with a tie against Mexico at Soccer City.   "You saw that today we were not giving away possession unnecessarily which shows we have improved. Giving away possession is better now than before when we were giving away the ball way too many times.    "The penetration is also still something we need to improve on. Our full backs need to go forward more often and improve on the delivery. I am impressed that we are imposing our style on our opponents.   "This is the level that we will face at the World Cup. I doubt it will be higher than this. I was particularly impressed with the way we played in the first-half. This is a level of technique, organisation, possession, experience, set-pieces that we will face at the World Cup."   Though Bulgaria failed to qualify for the World Cup they are a typical Eastern Europe team that is polished and extremely organised which is why Parreira is thrilled at having dominated them.

_quote The Brazilian coach concedes that penetration in the last third is always a challenge that he faced even while when coaching Brazil.    "We are imposing our style on the opponents and today it was very clear we are a team that can play our game against an experienced team. We faced a team that always had nine men behind the ball, but what I liked about our play is that we were never intimidated. It was not easy to penetrate, but I am happy with the situation because in games like this you are never going to create too many chances. Of course, we went to sleep a bit when they scored the equaliser.   "To penetrate teams that always have nine men behind the ball is difficult. Even when I was coaching in Brazil, I faced the same difficulty of penetrating even and I had Kaka, Ronaldo, Adriano and Ronaldinho in the team.    "You have to be patient and understand that it is not easy to penetrate as this is not a small team. I am happy with the situation because in these kinds of games you will create just two or three chances and if you score you will win the game," says Parreira who made changes to his team last night in the second-half.   "We have to make these changes because in a week we will be cutting down the squad to the 23 that Fifa wants. I am not confused, but I know what I want and it is getting clearer although the competition is obviously tougher.    "What I also enjoy about this team is that the competition is very tough between the players from overseas and the locals who make up what we call our South African team.     "By Thursday we will have to settle on the team to represent us and it will be a tough decision to cut down the team," he says.   Bafana play Columbia on Thursday night at Soccer City.